Microsoft & Square Enix Happy With Rise Of The Tomb Raider; Goals Have Been Accomplished Says Game Director

Sales for Rise of the Tomb Raider on Xbox have been somewhat lower than expected, but according game director Brian Horton, both Microsoft and Square Enix are very happy with Rise of the Tomb Raider and the team over at Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal.

Timed Xbox exclusive ‘Rise of the Tomb Raider’ sold approximately 330.000 copies in its first week, and some would argue that releasing the game on the same day as Fallout 4, hurt game sales pretty bad. Others would say that the exclusivity deal with Microsoft, is to blame for the lower than expected sales.

Sales aren’t everything, though, and on the Tomb Raider forums, game director at Crystal Dynamics, Brian Horton, recently replied to some concerns from fans about the ‘success’ of the game, and how reported sales numbers might have reflected poorly on the development team.

Microsoft and Square are very happy with Rise and the dev team, thanks for the concerns. Crystal and Eidos Montreal made a game we are proud and we appreciate the overwhelming number of positive reviews and fan feedback. We’re looking forward to the Game Awards next week where we are nominated for Best Action Adventure and Best Performance for Camilla. Wish us luck, hopefully it’s just the beginning of the recognition Tomb Raider and Lara Croft receives this year. It’s cool to see her on top again for the second game in a row. We’re all fans and for me it’s been the honor of my career to be a part of such a fantastic legacy. Next year 20th Anniversary!

Horton denies that sales numbers have reflected poorly on the development team.

I didn’t mean to go off topic or patronize, but there was suggestion in the thread that the reported sales numbers reflect poorly on the dev team. Square/Microsoft are happy with Crystal and Eidos Montreal and the game itself. As to the topic of sales, I’m unqualified to discuss it so I won’t have anything else to say on this thread. Much love TRF and happy holidays.

Horton adds that the team doesn’t look at sales numbers to measure their performance, instead they refer to reviews and release time to gauge their performance. According Horton, their goals have been accomplished.

The dev team is not responsible for sales and therefore we look to reviews and releasing on time to gauge our performance. We accomplished these goals. The press considers Rise of the Tomb Raider a high quality game based on the scores. I don’t see any of this as a lie.

Rise of the Tomb Raider released a few weeks ago for Xbox One and Xbox 360. The game has received very positive reviews. PS4 owners will be able to play the game in the 4th quarter of 2016, while PC owners will be able to enjoy Tomb Raider early 2016.